At Wednesday night's debate, John McCain pitted Barack Obama's policies against the desires of some small business wannabee named Joe Wurzelbacher, claiming Barack's policies would ace-out Joe's small business desires.

...Senator McCain was unremarkable not only in his lack of expertise on the subject of small business, but in the complete dearth of new ideas he presented. At one point in the roundtable, the chief of a precision machine shop said he was having trouble finding qualified machinists. McCain threw out a tired line: government subsidies for students to attend trade school. When the shop owner respectfully pointed out the systemic nature of the problem—that nobody in this country wants to go to trade school anymore—McCain paused for a moment, then simply reiterated his first suggestion before moving on to the next question....

...Still, squashed as I was between rows of wood-frame cubicles in the hallway separating the window shop's front foyer from its back room, where McCain's advance team had constructed a makeshift press area complete with backdrop and risers, I couldn't help but stare--over the heads, mind you, of Mayor Bloomberg and former Hewlett-Packard CEO (and current McCain economic adviser) Carly Fiorina--at the senator's massive, scrolling teleprompter. McCain's economic weakness isn't really a lack of policy proposals; everyone knew those would come in time. (Expect more policy speeches to follow over the spring and summer). Instead, it's the fact that, by his own admission, "economics is something that I've really never understood as well as I should."

Which is why the most revealing part of the event came when McCain tore himself away from the cue cards and sat down with six local small-business owners for an unscripted roundtable. I can't say I was impressed. A typical exchange went something like this. Squinting, McCain asks Griggs Forelli of Precision Gears Incorporated, a local aerospace parts manufacturer, to "talk about health insurance." "Tell me about your experience with that question," McCain grumbles. Forelli says that every insurer he's tried has raised prices 18 percent a year with no explanation or negotiations. "I wish I were in the insurance business," he says. McCain asks Forelli whether "it would be better" if he "could look out of the state of New York, all over America," for insurance. "Senator, I don't have the answer," says Forelli. McCain repeats the question. Forelli again recounts his woes. Finally, Fiorina steps in. "One of the reasons Sen. McCain is asking this question," she says, "is because he has long proposed that companies be able to look for insurance wherever they choose to find it. The more competition, the better choices and prices you get." The sequence then repeats itself. McCain poses a pat question, nods, scribbles and eventually lets Fiorina bail him out--whether by riffing on his "classic straight talk" support of nuclear energy or boasting of his belief in "the power of choice" to improve the health care system. When Fiorina concluded with a two-minute speechlet on how, "even in this short period of time you can understand why I, as a businesswoman, have entrusted the economy to [McCain]," I couldn't help but think, "Not really." Nearly taciturn--his closing remarks, in contrast, consisted of "thank you everybody; I'm very grateful for this opportunity"--McCain looked like a guy who'd much rather be talking about Iraq than corporate tax rates. ...

And Fiorina proved, yet again, why she would have been a better running mate.

...Outside of provisions designed to provide Fortune 500 corporations with tax cuts, Senator McCain's small business plan ignores several of the most significant problems facing small businesses.

Senator McCain's plan makes no mention of restoring of the Small Business Administrations budget and staffing to pre-Bush Administration levels. Since 2001, President Bush has cut the SBA's budget and staffing more than any other federal agency. Today, the SBA's budget and staff are approximately half of what they were when President Bush took office. The SBA is the only federal agency specifically chartered with assisting America's 27 million small businesses.

As a result of cutbacks at the SBA, a multitude of federal contracting and loan programs to assist woman-owned firms, minority owned firms veteran-owned firms and small businesses in general have been severely damaged. With Bush Administration cutbacks in mind, small business advocates are concerned President Bush may still attempt to close the SBA by combining it with the Commerce Department. Any realistic plan to assist America's 27 million small businesses should include a framework for putting the SBA back on track.

In 2000, Congress passed legislation establishing a 5 percent set-aside program for woman-owned small business. During its tenure, The Bush Administration has refused to implement the program. The Bush Administration even ignored a federal court order directing them to implement the program. Although Senator Obama has indicated his administration would implement the program, Senator McCain's small business plan makes no mention of his intention to finally launch the program....

He could have at least mentioned the SBA thing at the debate. Might have been more maverickish than attacking Obama. Because, outside of appeasing one Joe plumber, he's got a tide of small business owners yearning to hear something from him. He needed to confront criticism like this:

...[Lloyd] Chapman [president of the ASBL] emphasized that small businesses are suffering because large corporations are receiving small business contracts, a policy implemented by former SBA Administrator Steven Preston, now Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

According to the plan, posted on McCain's web site, McCain will cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. He will also reduce the estate tax rate to 15 percent, with an exemption for families worth less than $10 million.

McCain also suggests building 45 new nuclear power plants and the increased use of coal, as well as a summer gas tax holiday. In the plan, McCain says he will provide $5,000 in heath insurance for every family.

Chapman did not believe that McCain's energy plans would help small business and said that if McCain wanted to help reduce energy costs, he should support extensive profit taxes for the oil and gas industry. ...

McCain might have really "SCREWED UP on this one... I'm wondering if "Joe" isn't another one of McCain's little tiresome "stunts" that he takes such great delight in playing on the American people. Another stunt that has backfired...or should do so very soon IF some enterprising reporter will take it and run with it.

...Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative ofRobert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.

Does any of this make Joe the Plumber a bad guy? Of course not. In fact, after that ill-fated night at the Watergate, he may finally be giving plumbers a good name. But at a debate where John goes full bore on Obama for guilt-by-association with William Ayers (and dodges a bullet by Obama not mentioning Keating Five), the press is going to bring it back front and center by midday tomorrow once they delve deeper into the most popular plumber in America.

...But it wasn't long before the Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics revealed that Wurzelbacher was not a licensed member of their trade.

"That means that he has not completed the training program necessary for him to sit for a license test," said Tony Herrera, market recovery specialist for Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 50 in Toledo, Ohio.

"It's a shame that this guy has ended up in this situation because it seems like he's misrepresented himself -- and for that matter the plumbing and pipefitting industry."

Without a license, Wurzelbacher cannot practice in the city of Toledo but can work for someone with a master's license or in outlying areas that do not require a license, Herrera said....

With a suspended license in one state, it should not be possible to get a new license in another, said Cydney DeModica, spokeswoman for the Arizona MVD.

The only way "Joe the Plumber" could have slipped through the cracks is a clerical error in which his driving records were not entered into the Problem Driver Pointer System, the national database of information about people with a checkered driving past, said Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Lindsay Komlanc.

Small-businessowners do tend to earn more than the general population but a majority of them still do not earn above $200,000 or $250,000.

The National Federation of Independent Business found that 14 percent of those surveyed earn $200,000 or more. Those who did tended to own larger businesses. For instance, of those with 20 to 249 employees, 32 percent earned $250,000.

Some small businesses do file corporation taxes. McCain has proposed cutting the top income tax rate for corporations from 35 percent to 25 percent.

Williams said that cut wouldn't help most small businesses.

"Only the biggest corporations would benefit from McCain's cut," he said.

Factcheck took-on the McCain and Obama tax plan as it would relate to small businesses.

Quote:

He claims 23 million small-business owners would pay higher tax rates under Obama. He's wrong. The vast majority would see no change, and many would get a cut.

Summary McCain has repeatedly claimed that Obama would raise tax rates for 23 million small-business owners. It's a false and preposterously inflated figure....

Sixty-two percent of 850 small-business owners recently polled said they were planning to cross party lines when they vote next month, according to the George S. May International Company, a Chicago-based management consulting firm.

Though the survey didn't identify which party or candidate respondents supported, a separate poll of 516 owners conducted by the firm last month found 59.5 percent felt Democratic candidate Barack Obama would help small businesses more. At the same time, 39.3 percent said they believed Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate, would do more to alleviate financial burdens on smaller employers.